Thirty years ago Janis Joplin was selling records and touring the country with her own brand of music and style. Before that, Aretha Franklin was a huge star. People loved these women's voices and the soul they put in their music. They were respected for who they were and what they represented. Neither of these women were playmate material.
Now, in 2002, Britney Spears is wandering through what's left of her perpetual teenage years in search of something she may never possess - real talent.
Talent has, over that last three decades, given way to image. If Franklin or Joplin were to have been born 30 years later, neither of them would have become the icons they are. Just imagine Christina Aguilera screaming, "Take a Little Piece of My Heart" in her clear vibrato voice, or Britney Spears with an army of backup dancers performing "Respect" live on HBO in her bra and sequined stretch pants. Chilling, I know, but in a strange cosmic way, that is exactly what we are seeing.
Behind the scenes is where all the talent is pooled. It has been common knowledge that most of our top 40 hits are not written by the people who perform them. What we hear is an amalgamation of songwriters and record executives deciding what the flavor of the month will be. We get a few pretty faces - honed by focus groups and skilled media experts - to have just the right image and breast size for maximum record and ticket sales. Meanwhile, the real talent is locked away in some tiny studio apartment with a dusty guitar and notebook full of songs with personal meaning and heart, forced to write hits for the stars that they will never be because they don't have the right look. It all seems to go against what music is supposed to be about - personal expression and freedom.
When I was much younger, I used to spend almost all of my free time listening to my favorite bands. The music spoke to me in ways that words cannot possibly define. I could feel the bands talking to me, and somehow I knew that they had gone through everything that I was stuck right in the middle of. Music was a part of my life in a more tangible way than anything else could be. Then something bad happened.
I awoke one morning in a cold sweat. Somewhere in my twisting nightscape it had dawned on me that the music I so loved was driven by image and marketing. How else could you explain my inexhaustible love of my stepdad's old flannel shirts and army boots? From that day on it was clear to me that nothing is pure. As time went on things only got worse. Soon boy bands were making a comeback and the "pop moppets" were charging full force into mainstream media.
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The formula is simple: find some attractive young boy or girl with a decent voice - which can all be synthesized of course - and shove them into the "pop mold." When they come out they will be ready for the masses.
This pop trend has me on edge. I refuse to believe that an educated country such as America can't see through all this deception for what it really is - another way to take your money. Don't believe me? Then explain to me why Britney Spears has her own video game and Barbie doll, two items that are as ironically unoriginal as the original.
It's about time I came down from my soapbox and just submit to corporate ownership. To me the music industry is dead as long as talent is something you can only find playing a gig at a local liquor store. Maybe it is the grass root bands that will save music for me and bring that missing piece of my life back. No fake image, no bullshit, just the love of music and will to create something that transcends trends and TRL.
